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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Hi,</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Sorry about so late comments but I have not had time to read these mailing lists lately...</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:32:37 +0100</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>From: Dave Neary <dneary@maemo.org></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Subject: Re: Maemo.org</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>To: List for community development <maemo-community@maemo.org></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Message-ID: <49679845.9040905@maemo.org></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Hi Jarmo,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Jarmo.Tikka@nokia.com wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> Number of these restructurings of web site should be </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>minimized because </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> they tend to break all external links to the site.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> As a reminder site usability has been discussed also in </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>maemo bugzilla.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> </FONT><A HREF="https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3972"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3972</FONT></U></A>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>You might notice my comment on that bug. I'm all for improving </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>the usability of the site, and that's really the whole point </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>of the exercise.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Good because I think usability is one of the biggest problems we have in site design.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>The logic we followed, and the main use-cases we are trying to </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>address, to get to where we are today is detailed in </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT><A HREF="http://wiki.maemo.org/Task:Improving_maemo.org"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">http://wiki.maemo.org/Task:Improving_maemo.org</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>A reminder: those core use-cases are:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">> 1. A new tablet owner wants to install some software on his tablet.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">> 2. An interested application developer comes to maemo.org </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>to learn how to write a new application for the tablet.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">> 3. An existing application developer comes to maemo.org </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>looking for information on modifying his application for Maemo.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">> 4. A Maemo Community member is looking for the latest news </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>from around the world of Maemo</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">> 5. An interested user wants to know how he can help make </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Maemo better or give feedback</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">> 6. A tablet user has a problem which they would like to resolve.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">These use cases look ok for me. I would add one more:</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">0. An interested developer comes to maemo.org looking for how to start maemo development (first how to setup development environment to PC and Tablet, second what platform documentation we have, third how to get support if he runs into problems).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">In addition to these basic developer use cases we have kind of technical users profiles (including developers but also a lot of other people) who are interested to install all kind of apps and components, more end user type documentation and support etc...</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>So we've got, in the case of 1, 2 and 3, someone coming to the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>maemo.org home-page, and getting redirected quickly to the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Downloads page or the Development - the front page has the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>most popular and the community choice applications. In the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>fourth case, we have some news on the front page, with more </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>available at maemo.org/news. In the fifth case, we have the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>new "Community" page, which should help show people how to get </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>involved, and finally for a user with a problem, we will have </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>the new "Support" page, which will bring them to the user </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>mailing list, documentation and FAQs, and of course bugzilla</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> How I see it people visit maemo.org because:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> - they need to install/upgrae latest image or SDK</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>SDK = developer = Development page</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">There are three phases, 1. install environment, 2. read platform docuements, 3. find help from community for problems.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">And actually forth phase publish your work to those technical users (including other developers).</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> - they need to find out some official documentation for certain </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> technology area</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>What is documentation? We had quite a long discussion (I won't </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>say argument ;) about this when we came up with the first </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>drafts for the front page. For me, "documentation" is </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>meaningless without context - are we talking about developer </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>documentation, API references, application development guides? </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>That's in Development. Are we talking about troubleshooting, </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>tablet tutorials, FAQs? That's in Support.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Documentation about getting started in maemo.org, signing up </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>to mailing lists, helping out - Community.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Maemo.org is mainly developer site so developer documentation if the most important issue. For those technical users troubleshooting etc are more important documentation. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> - they need to see if certain problem has been reported or </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>write a new </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> bug report</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Problems = Support page.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Support page instructing how to and from where ask help. Instructions what documents to use for certain platform. Instructions to check if problem is already reported in bugzilla, ...</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> For me these new layouts seems to emphasize only this last type of </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> usage e.g. social issues. In my opinion also those other usage </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> patterns should be made easier.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>I hope that I've explained the logic behind the changes that </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>are being proposed by the community here. As you may be able </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>to tell, we have had some long debates on this over the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>months. To read more, you might try this thread:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT><A HREF="http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-community/2008-September/002335.html"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-community/2008-September/002335.html</FONT></U></A>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>There are other threads, through September, October, November </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>and December, working through vision, wireframing, and design </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>- and now implementation.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">I am happy if you are able to improve usability of the site. At least these use cases look ok for me.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> For example we do not have links to the latest maemo </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>image/SDK release </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> in front page.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>It's certainly conceivable that this would be interesting to a </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>decent portion of maemo.org visitors, but I'd suggest that the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>bigger audience is people who own a tablet and want to either </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>solve a problem they have with it, or get some </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>community-developed software. We should definitely lead them </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>to the community, and to developing software. Don't you think </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>that the software developer looking for an SDK will be able to </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>find the appropriate sub-page to click on to get it?</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Just a note that we cannot forget developers and concentrate those technical users on maemo.org even if developers are also tehnical users :). For development certain type of developer documentation is must.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">I agree on that point that most maemo community participants (site visitors) may be those tehcnical users but still the site keeps running because of those develoepers developing and porting new stuff to maemo and devices...</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> Anyhow I think you (maemo community members) have done very </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>good work </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>> for the site...</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Thanks! Since you're part of that community too, your feedback </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>is of course welcome. I just wanted to make you aware of </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>previous discussions, and the thinking behind this resulting design.</FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">Still thinking that you do good work for maemo :).</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">//Jarmo</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Thanks,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">>Dave.</FONT>
</P>
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